{"id":409952,"date":"2021-08-16T13:09:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T11:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=409952"},"modified":"2021-08-16T13:41:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T11:41:37","slug":"goodbye-dstv-and-tv-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/409952-goodbye-dstv-and-tv-licence.html","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye DStv and TV licence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armed with a fast broadband connection and a large monitor, South Africans do not need a TV licence or DStv subscription to watch premium video content.<\/p>\n

On-demand streaming video services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Showmax, Apple TV+, and Britbox offer alternatives to linear broadcast services like DStv.<\/p>\n

Big-screen monitors provide an alternative to traditional TV sets that you need a TV licence to buy in South Africa.<\/p>\n

By choosing streaming over satellite TV, and a monitor over a television set, South Africans can avoid the need for a TV licence and select cheaper alternatives to DStv Premium.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice reported that, between April 2020 and March 2021, it saw an 8% decline<\/strong><\/a> in subscribers to its high-end DStv Premium and Compact Plus packages.<\/p>\n

This is a continuation of a trend that started in 2016 when Netflix launched globally.<\/p>\n

Initially, the launch of Netflix only caused a slow-down in DStv Premium subscriber growth, but by 2018 MultiChoice revealed that its most profitable subscriber base was shrinking.<\/p>\n

This has not stopped MultiChoice from making money. On the contrary, the company posted record profits for the 2020\/21 financial year.<\/p>\n

Profits notwithstanding, subscriber numbers on high-end DStv packages are shrinking as people can get fast, uncapped fibre broadband and several streaming services for cheaper than a DStv Premium subscription<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The table below summarises the top streaming services currently available in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Not shown in the table are services such as YouTube Premium and Curiosity Stream.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Video streaming services<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Service<\/strong><\/th>\nContent<\/strong><\/th>\nMonthly price<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Netflix Standard<\/td>\n3,544 movies
\n1,981 TV shows<\/td>\n		R139<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amazon Prime Video<\/td>\n6,834 movies
\n1,067 TV shows<\/td>\n		$5.99 (R89)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Showmax<\/td>\n1,228 movies
\n556 TV shows<\/td>\n		R99<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apple TV+<\/td>\n24 movies
\n47 series<\/td>\n		R84.99<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Britbox<\/td>\n24 movies
\n108 series<\/td>\n		R99.99<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Walt Disney recently announced that it would launch Disney+ in South Africa<\/strong><\/a> during winter next year. No price or exact or launch date was confirmed.<\/p>\n

In addition to the subscription services listed above, streaming video viewers also have access to catalogues of free content, with TelkomONE featuring the SABC\u2019s content and E-tv recently launching eVOD.<\/p>\n

South Africans have limited options when it comes to live sports streaming that do not require circumventing geographic restrictions, which may be illegal<\/strong><\/a> in South Africa.<\/p>\n

MultiChoice offers sports streaming through Showmax Pro \u2014 available through a mobile plan for R225 per month or the standard plan for R449 per month.<\/p>\n

It also offers streaming-only DStv subscriptions that include live streaming of many of its channels, including SuperSport.<\/p>\n

While these subscriptions are priced the same as DStv\u2019s satellite TV packages, viewers can avoid requiring a TV licence by going decoder-less.<\/p>\n

To avoid needing a TV licence it is also necessary to use a monitor that does not include a TV tuner, rather than a conventional television set.<\/p>\n

Four models of 40-inch or larger ultra-high-definition monitors that are available in South Africa are listed below.<\/p>\n

\n

Philips 43″ 438P1\/96 \u2014 R8,999<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Mecer 55″ 55L83U with built-in media player \u2014 R9,990<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Mecer 65″ W\/6586ad \u2014 R13,739<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Mecer 75″ with built-in media player \u2014 R16,899<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Alienware 55″ AW5520QF Gaming Monitor \u2014 R59,999<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Now read: TV Licence inspectors can come into your house without a warrant<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to streaming services you no longer need a satellite dish, decoder, and TV set to get access to premium video entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":387820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[723,39088,2638,68666,12857,85,35,475,2054,32140],"class_list":["post-409952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-amazon","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-apple-tv","tag-britbox","tag-disney","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-showmax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409960,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409952\/revisions\/409960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}